Tall, Silent & Lethal (Pyte/Sentinel #4)(118)

“Get your hands off her,” the bastard that never stopped seething, growled, earning a collective sigh from their little group and a growl of warning from Izzy as she slapped her hand over Cloe’s to keep her hand right where it was.

“She’s helping her,” Chris said, a look of deep concentration on his face as he slowly moved his hand over Izzy’s damaged hip.

Refusing to listen, big surprise there, Kale moved closer and reached down, but she’d moved before he could remove her hand. She grabbed his and placed it just below Izzy’s ribcage.

“Gently rub,” she ordered absently as she focused on working the tension out of Izzy’s back.

“What?” Kale asked after a slight hesitation, sounding confused as he knelt there, his hand remaining still on Izzy’s side.

“She said rub!” Izzy snapped, sending the bastard a murderous glare that had Cloe biting back a smile as the large man hurried to do just that. Izzy released a drawn out sigh as she relaxed back on the floor, her arm folded beneath her head, her eyes closed and a small smile tilting her lips up as they worked her muscles.

“Where did you learn that?” Christofer asked as she used her thumbs to work out a particularly nasty knot in Izzy’s back.

“I took a few extra courses when I was in school,” she said, following the direction of the knot until it hit the scar tissue decorating Izzy’s hip.

“Is this going to help her?” Chris asked, gently rubbing his mate’s hip.

She hated making promises, but one look at the expression on his face told her that he needed to hear something, anything that would give him some semblance of hope. “It should help relieve some of her pain,” she promised, praying that she was right.

“Can I help?” Marc asked as he walked into the large foyer.

She opened her mouth to say no, but something in Marc’s expression told her that Chris wasn’t the only one punishing himself over Izzy’s injury. “Actually, I could use some help. I was thinking of walking into town and picking up some oils that might help her. You can be my escort as long as it’s fine with your parents.”

“It’s fine. Just make sure you’re back before dark,” Ephraim said, walking into the foyer with a baby in each arm.

“When are we going?” Marc asked, standing tall and looking like he was ready to take on the world.

He really was such a sweet kid. He was also too serious for a kid his age. In the last week here, she hadn’t seen him playing any video games, watching television, playing outside or having a friend over. He was always looking after Izzy and Jessica, making sure they were taken care of. He did so much, too much for a kid.

“Give me an hour?” she asked, shooting Marc a smile.

“One hour,” he agreed solemnly, appearing as though he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“Chris, could you make sure that Izzy soaks in a hot tub for at least thirty minutes?” she asked, moving to stand up when Izzy made a desperate grab to stop her. “The hot water will help your muscles relax,” she promised Izzy as she gently pried the woman’s fingers off her arm.

“Fine,” Izzy grumbled as she released her hold on Cloe and allowed Chris to pick her up. “You may carry me to my room and draw my bath for me,” she said on a bored sigh as though she were somehow doing Chris a favor.

“Little slave driver,” Chris said, chuckling as he leaned down and kissed Izzy on the forehead.

“I don’t believe I gave you leave to kiss me, good sir,” Izzy sniffed haughtily, folding her arms over her ample br**sts as she looked away, making everyone in the foyer smile, but not for the reason that Cloe thought. It had been long time since Izzy was able to tease her mate and smile about having to be carried around. They took it as a good sign of things to come.

*-*-*-*

“Do you want me to go with you?” Christofer asked as he followed Cloe into their room. Not that she really had a choice in the matter. He was going no matter what, but he liked to make her think that she had a choice.

“Do you want to go with me?” she asked, eying him curiously as she picked up her backpack.

“Of course,” he said, lying his ass off.

He wanted to spend time with her. He just didn’t want to do it in another small-minded town. It had been close to three weeks since he was last forced to spend time with humans and he would have been more than fine with turning that three weeks into an eternity, but it seemed that Cloe had other plans.

“Hmm, you don’t sound very excited,” she noted as she searched through her bag.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said dryly as he watched her bend over.

“You could check out the art supply store,” she suggested, shooting him a quick glance over her shoulder.

“I could,” he said absently as he eyed the pile of drawings he’d done since this whole thing started, still wondering if his new life was going to have room in it for his first love.

He needed to protect Cloe, to make this world safe for her and that was going to take a great deal of training and time to accomplish. His desire to spend every waking moment escaping through his art had started to diminish over the past few weeks. He still loved to draw, took great pleasure from it, but that overwhelming need to lose himself in his art just wasn’t the same anymore.